THE MOORS IN SPAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 49, 27 February 1937, Page 27

THE MOORS IN SPAIN

HISTORY REPEATED

CULTURAL AND LITERARY

INFLUENCES

(Written for "The Post" by A. B. Cochran.) The inclusion of several thousand Moorish fighters in General Franco's rebel army—with- what ultimate bene- ' fit to his cause remains to be seen— serves to revive interest in one of the most fascinating passages of European history. The Moors invaded Spain in 710 A.D., occupied it more or less completely for close on eight hundred years, and when, at the hands of Ferd- ■ inan'd 11, they were expelled in 1492, left behind them an indelible impression on ,the institutions, architecture, literature, and language of the'Peninsula';\.andf not on the culture of the Peninsula.alone, but also, thfpugh the medium of Spanish, on thav of~many other-.countries of the world as well : (England included) which .have absorbed not a. little of the dazzling colour and fire belonging to/the Moorish genius. ..• .•.«: .-. •■ /.;■ ,••...,. ; According to tradition . the Moors •were originally 'introduced," as they have been introduced in our own day, by a rebel. The story, celebrated by Southey in "Roderick, the Last of the Goths," by Landor in "Count Julian," and by Scott in "The Vision of Don Roderick," relates how Roderick, at that.time Gothic ruler of Spain, ;dis- ;> honoured Florinda, daughter to one of his lieutenants, Count Julian, and how in revenge Julian threw in his lot with the Moors,, against whom he had been engaged,.and drove Roderick from-the throne. . Whether the tradition is'true.;or;'hotr-matters little. It is of "a!'piece'-with-:the whole romantic history: of ~this'people, which.led Victor Hugo; to classify Spain as "Oriental," and which ended as it began in a series of spectacular events dear to theheart of poet or dramatist.: DRYDEN AND BUCKINGHAM.! Ofthis'vthe.most.'striking representa- ■■ tive in English is John Dryden, whose long" play on the subject of the fall of •the Moors—his "Conquest of Granada" —enjoys a mixed reputation. Jt may very well* form'one of a group of writings, including Browning's "Sordello" and Tennyson's "Maud." which J one may either think of as having a certain greatness," or else: -.regard as •' among the tremendous jests of English literature. In form the "Conquest" is based on the French heroic tragedy '■ written in rimed ' couplets—a form ■ never completely: • naturalised in' Eng- ■ lapd—and its chief interest, centres round the mighty.figure of Almanzor. He is drawn on a colossal scale, a mixture of the Cid, Tamburlaine, Artamenes (personally responsible for the slaughter of 100,000 enemies!) and half ; a£dozeri: others of the heroes, of medieval times; of such prowess indeed that he rises, superior even to fate. '... >■ . Fate after him. below with pain did move. Arid victory could scarce keep pace above. -Next hour fate will give the^crown tb» Boabdelin, but he, Almanzor; gives it-now. Truly "Fate listens to his vtiice and then decrees." iTo the statement: •• - ■-\ VMy king' his. hope .from heavens assistance draws,", he answers: :..... - "The Moors have heaven, and me, bassist their cause." Where it is • evidently only by courtesy that heaven isVincluded at all, / "Almanzor's superhuman courage is shown further when a ghost appears, heralded by a hollow wind that comes whistling through the door. He is seized with a ,'cold ' shivering and is • momentarily taken aback; yet he recovers and cries': _ .■■■■.. ,My legs Shall bear, me to thee-in" their own despite; I'll rush into the covert of: thy-might;' And pullthee backward, -by thy ■shroud,;-to Or else I'll squeeze thee, like a bladder, there. And make thee groan thyself away to air <•' —whereupon the.ghost prudently re- , tires. Dryden's extravagances in this play were humorously satirised by Buckingham in "The Rehearsal," the hero of which, Drawcansir, is "a fierce hero, who..fights his,mispress, snubs kings, baffies armies, and does what he will without regard to; good manners, justice, :br numbers." He'is like this, because the author ."prefers that one quality of singly beating of whole armies above-all -your moral virtues- put together.'' The hero's own: words • bear out.the;;description,.,.,..:.;;,-.:;;..' :.. Whoe'er'to gulp one dr'pp of this dares think, I'll "stare away his very power to drink. I drink, I huff, I'strut, look big and stare. And all this I can do; because I dare. Later he comes' in, "kills 'em all on both, sides," and says, . • Others may boast a slncle man to kill, But-,I the blood of thousands daily spill. Let.petty kings the names of parties know; Where'er. I come,' I slay, both friend: and foe. THE GARDEN OF LYNDARAXA. , Among the other curiosities glanced at by Buckingham is Dryden's use of outlandish proper, names. ' Abencerrag^es," Zegrys, Almahide^ Abdelmelech, certainly sound ■ foreign enough in English ears. Lyndaraxa, on the other hand, is a name that might appear as grateful to the tongue as her beauty to the eye. Fair tho' you are As summer mornings, and your.eyes more bright Than stars that twinkle on a winter's night. It is just possible that there is more in the description here than appears on the surface. Certainly in the play Lyndaraxa's conduct is as changeful as the seasons. She is evidently a his--tprical personage. Her name is pre* served in the Alhambra, where the Garden of Lyndaraxa is still one of the show places. But to give the phrase a metaphorical sense, there were doubtless many others worthy, from the attractiveness of their names and persons, to belong to that garden. Evidence is furnished by an: anonymous poem of-the fifteenth century, two or three verses of which may be quoted in translation: — Three dark maids—l loved, them " when In Jaen, — Axa, Fatima, Marien. Three dark mald3 who went together Picking olives In' clear weather. My, but they were In fine feather In Jaen— Axa, Patima, Marien 1 Three dark Moors so lovely they— Three dark Moors so lovely, they Plucked the apples on that day Near Jaen— .• ■■ Aia, Patuna, Marien. A previous contributor to these columns (A.M.) has sufficiently developed the theme of Spanish names, only a proportion of which are, of course, Moor- \ ishf :Of more.' immediate interest is the part played by the Moors in enriching the; general vocabulary of the world. That ■it was fairly extensive is. undoubted,,but the business of determining.'just how extensive presents, many teasing problems to the etymologist. A Moorish word would be Arabic in ofijgin and there are many Arabic wlor.ds in common use among us— alkali,.,, algebra, ~. alcohol, admiral, arsenal, antimony, coffee, elixir, amber, bedouin. What is not so clear is the

linguistic route they have taken, whether French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, etc. Words that can fairly be said to derive from Arabic through Spanish include cotton, caraway,; quintal, jar, artichoke,- apricot, giraffe, alcove, spinach, zenith, almanac,' cipher, the interesting thing about these borrowings being that they fall naturally into two main classes, namely, terms of science and terms of trade: : The Arabs were noted chemists. ' SHAKESPEARE'AND IRVING. To return to the general literary question—it is .too . vast to . follow through the ramifications of the Charlemagne, Roland and Oliver cycles, or the adventures associated with the name's, of Pelagio and the'Cid. Two' authors ought, however, 'to be mentioned. Washington Irving.lived for some time in the, Alhambra, collecting, its-stories "and writing its history, so that to this day "Vashington" is still a familiar name to, the inhabitants, of Granada. And then Shakespeare, for though" Othello is a -Moor "of Venice," he yet belongs ■to the - type here .under discussion. It is not by chance that Shakespeare adopted the Moor as the hero of his great tragedy. He wanted^ warrior such as the tribes of Morocco could best supply, brilliant in military affairs and with ah exotic background of a kind mosf : likely to appeal to the romantic Desdemona. He speaks of , • "'•:.' Antres vast and deserts idle, Rough quarries, rocks,; and hills'whose, heads touch heaven, .-...■ And of the Cannibals that each other eat And Anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders. That he is black, moreover, gives greater force to lago's insinuations — could such a one as Desdemona really be true to a man of ''thick lips" and "sooty ■ bosom"? Finally the act of passion comes more naturally to a man simple but intense in feeling, noble enough to love "not wisely but too well" (his own. words); "one not easily jealous,,but, being wrought, perplexed in the extreme." •'. • In reading books on Spain it is usual to find expressions to the effect that she lives in .her . yesterdays ". . '■.' and although the town now presents; a very lifeless appearance, it: has" had a glorious history in the past.": .■■"..-... At the moment ■ political, economic; • and': religious causes have stung the peoples of Spain into fierce activity; it will be the hope, of many that the outcome may be: a igenUine revival of the highminded ; chivalry 'that 'characterised her in 'her/best'moments, 'arid.not a little of^which'-may' bectracedsback to the MoOrs.■:". :\. ■' ■■*■'.■>.■. ''■'■■;■ '■;■;•■-.; I